Battle of Lovat
The Battle of Lovat was an armed engagement between the Republic of Haven Navy and the Royal Manticoran Navy, which hit the Lovat System as part of Operation Sanskrit. Prelude After the failure of Operation Cutworm III, the RMN devised Operation Sanskrit as a heavy, state-of-the-art technology based assault on Lovat, one of the backbones of Haven's overall economy. The plan was delayed for a while after the Republic of Haven's offer for peace talks on Torch, but when the assassination attempt on Queen Berry destroyed all good will on the Manticoran side, it was set in motion again on the direct order of Queen Elizabeth III. ( ) Order of battle RMN Eighth Fleet, CO - Admiral Honor Harrington: * Task Force 81, CO - Admiral Honor Harrington ** Battle Squadron 61, CO - Rear Admiral Alistair McKeon ** CLAC Squadron 3, CO - Vice Admiral Alice Truman reinforced to 8 units ** battlecruiser element, CO - Rear Admiral Erasmus Miller, GSN: *** a battlecruiser squadron of GSN, CO - Rear Admiral Erasmus Miller *** Battlecruiser Squadron 81, CO - Rear Admiral Michael Oversteegen ** Cruiser Squadron 7, CO - Rear Admiral Winston Bradshaw ** Cruiser Squadron 12, CO - Commodore Charise Fanaafi ** Light Cruiser Flotilla 18, CO - Commodore George Ullman6 units * Task Force 82, CO - Admiral Judah Yanakov, GSN ** Battle Squadron 15 (GSN), CO - Admiral Judah Yanakov ** Battle Squadron 23, CO - Vice Admiral Morris Baez ** CLAC squadron 6, CO - Vice Admiral Samuel Miklos RHN A task forceequivalent of six battle squadrons (pod-laying) and two CLAC squadrons divided evenly distributed to three task groups of the Third Fleet, CO - Admiral Javier Giscard: * astern task group (Bogey Two): ** wall of battle ** a CLAC division * system north task group (Bogey Three): ** wall of battle ** a CLAC division * system south task group (Bogey Four): ** wall of battle ** a CLAC division * subordinate Lovat System Defence (Bogey One), CO - Admiral Alessandra Giovanni: ** wall of battlethree battle squadrons, CO - Admiral Wentworth Trask ** LACs group8000 units ** system defence missile pod clusters control, CO - Commander Lucas Course of battle Lieutenant Commander Kgari dropped Task Force 81, Eighth Fleet's leading task force, into normal-space barely 40,000 kilometers outside the Lovat hyper limit. Admiral Truman deployed her almost 900 LACs and jumped into hyper, while the rest of the Task Force entered the system. The Manticoran units accelerated towards the planet Forge at a steady 4.81 kps². When they were 70 minutes from turnover the Havenite defenders executed Tarantula, the signal for Admiral Giscard's 16 hidden superdreadnoughts to fire up and accelerate towards the invaders. 20 minutes later, the Manticoran force executed Ozawa, calling Task Force 82 with 12 pod-laying superdreadnoughts and six LAC carriers, led by [[HMS Ambuscade|HMS Ambuscade]], out of hyperspace well outside the hyper limit. The carriers began launching their full LAC complements. Giscard's SD(P)s started rolling pods, while TF82 made use of their new Apollo pods and Keyhole II platforms, effectively gaining real-time correction ability at any attainable powered missile range: 288 Apollo pods launched 1,900 attack missiles and 400 EW platforms, along with 288 control missiles. Havenite counter-missiles stopped 300 of the attack missiles, point defense clusters killed another 400. The other 1,200 got through the defense envelope and destroyed two superdreadnoughts, including Sovereign of Space, killing Admiral Giscard. The following eleven salvos destroyed the rest of his force. Later, while Task Force 82 engaged another Havenite force labelled Bogey Two in the same manner, Admiral Harrington had the Mistletoe system activated, using laser-headed recon platforms to destroy the Moriarty platforms and almost three quarters of all system defense pods. Admiral Giovanni ordered Admiral Trask to stand down his superdreadnoughts and surrendered. ( ) Aftermath After the defenders had surrendered, all Havenite LACs, support ships and munitions in the system were destroyed. The Republic's economy took a serious blow, and the Republican Navy had lost one of its greatest officers. The vast superiority of the Manticoran Alliance's new missile technology forced President Pritchart and Admiral Theisman to decide wether they wanted to surrender or hit Manticore in one last, hard strike before the new systems could be installed in the whole RMN fleet. They decided to try the second alternative, executing Operation Beatrice, which led to the Battle of Manticore, the largest space battle in the history of the human race. ( ) RHN losses * 24 old-style superdreadnoughts * 32 pod-laying superdreadnoughts * 4 LAC carriers * ~ 10,000 light attack craft References Lovat, Battle of Lovat, Battle of Lovat, Battle of